ISL Season 8: First 'Ed'win on the board for Chennaiyin

The 28-year-old Edwin, who was reportedly on the radar of a few other ISL clubs, penned a new multi-year deal with Chennaiyin on Thursday. A couple of days after officially extending his stay at CFC, Edwin, who can play both in midfield as well as in defence, shared his thoughts on a few topics.

Not only I but also my friends and family are extremely happy. CFC gave me the opportunity to play in ISL and the management was interested in retaining me for the coming seasons. I am finding it hard to describe my feeling in words.

I have seen both ups and downs at Chennaiyin. I had a breakthrough season in ISL 2019-20, but my playing time reduced in the subsequent campaign. In football, everyone experiences such things and I went through the same. In my first two years at CFC, I learnt about how mentally prepared I should be. If I come across similar situations in the future, I will handle it better. Overall, I learnt a lot in the last couple of years.

I know that a little bit of criticism has been following me. When you aren’t at your best, people have the opportunity to bring you down irrespective of the level you play at. I would like to minimise those chances. When the pre-season for ISL Season 8 begins, I want to be fully fit and help the team in whichever way I can.

You can perform well during the season only if you keep practising on a regular basis. The standard of ISL has been getting better with each passing season. So, the upcoming season will be tougher than the previous one. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, not many grounds are open. However, I have been training and putting in the hard yards.